metacognitive strategies to foster professional

1 METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES TO FOSTER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN PRE-

SERVICE TEACHERS

Metacognitive Strategies to Foster Professional Development in Pre-Service Teachers Based on

a Reflective Teaching Approach

Laura Daniela Gómez Muñoz and María Daniela Inguilan Ramírez

Universidad Libre


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Metacognitive Strategies to Foster Professional Development in Pre-Service Teachers Based on

a Reflective Teaching Approach

Laura Daniela Gómez Muñoz and María Daniela Inguilan Ramírez

A research report submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts

in Humanities and Languages

Directed by: Clara Isabel Onatra Chavarro

Bachelor of Arts in Humanities and Languages

Faculty of Education

Universidad Libre

Bogotá, 2017

Universidad Libre


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To our families for their endless support.

In memory of those who will remain in our hearts.


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Acknowledgements

There have been many people who have walked alongside us during the last five years. They

have guided us, placed opportunities in front of us and showed us the doors that might be useful

to open. We would especially like to thank Professor Clara Onatra, for all the support and

encouragement in this process, to Professor Wilder Nieto who shone a light on us to start this

journey, and finally, to Carolina Vega for teaching us and inspired us to be better people.


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Abstract

This action research project was carried out at a language center located in Bogota. The

researchers intended to explore how metacognitive strategies can be adapted for pre-service

teachers (the target population), with the purpose of increasing and structure reflection in order

to foster professional development. For that reason, the overall aim of this study was to analyze

the impact of reflective teaching and metacognitive strategies on pre-service teachers’

professional development. By doing so, this paper presents the relevance of implementing

metacognitive strategies, such as planning, monitoring and evaluating allowing pre-service

teachers to be aware of the different stages, weaknesses and strengths during their teaching

process, which can take place inside and outside of the classroom. Data collected throughout the

implementation included students' questionnaires, a supervisor's questionnaire, pre-service

teachers' metacognitive questionnaires, institutional students' surveys, teaching journals and a

checklist given by the language center. For data analysis, grounded theory was implemented

making use of the open, axial and selective coding. Results showed that when teachers actually

reflect upon their own process, they can improve their teaching practice, which will benefit all

the actors of it: teachers, students and the institution. Additionally, findings also reported that

metacognitive strategies can be implemented in teachers’ performance to improve the

professional development.

Key words: metacognitive strategies, professional development, reflective teaching, pre-service

teachers.


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Resumen

Este proyecto de investigación acción fue realizado en un centro de lenguas localizado en

Bogotá. Las investigadoras tuvieron la intención de explorar como las estrategias metacognitivas

pueden ser adaptadas para docentes en formación (sujeto-objeto de investigación), explorando

nuevas maneras de el desarrollo profesional. En este sentido, el objetivo principal de este estudio

era analizar el impacto de la enseñanza reflexiva y las estrategias metacognitivas sobre el

desarrollo profesional de los docentes en formación. De esta manera, este proyecto presenta la

importancia de poner en práctica las estrategias metacognitivas, como la planificación, el

monitoreo y la evaluación permitiendo a los profesores ser conscientes de las diferentes etapas,

debilidades y fortalezas durante su proceso de enseñanza, que puede ocurrir dentro y fuera del

aula. La recolección de datos fue realizada por medio de cuestionarios para los estudiantes, el

cuestionario para el supervisor, cuestionarios metacognitivos realizados por los docentes en

formación, una encuesta institucional, diarios de campo y una "checklist" dada por el centro de

lengua. Para el análisis de datos, la teoría fundamentada fue puesta en práctica aprovechando de

la codificación abierta, axial y selectiva. Los resultados mostraron que cuando los profesores en

realidad reflexionan sobre su propio proceso, pueden mejorar su enseñanza en la práctica, que

beneficiará a todos los actores de ello: profesores, estudiantes y la institución. Además, las

conclusiones también divulgaron que las estrategias metacognitivas pueden utilizarse en función

de los profesores para mejorar el desarrollo profesional.

Palabras clave: estrategias metacognitivas, desarrollo profesional, reflexión docente, docentes en

formación


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Index

Index of Figures 9

List of tables 10

1. Problem 11

1.1. Problem statement. 11

1.2. Research question 13

1.3. Objectives 13

1.3.1 General objective. 13

1.3.2 Specific objectives. 13

1.4. Background research 14

1.4.1. Local studies 14

A mirror reflective teaching practices: Universidad Libre (Fúquene & Parra, 2016) 14

Exploring Reflective Teaching through Informed Journal Keeping and Blog Group Discussion in

the Teaching Practicum. (Insuasty & Zambrano, 2010) 16

1.4.2. National studies 18

Teachers' Attitudes towards Reflective Teaching: Evidences in a Professional Development:

Universidad de Córdoba. (Jerez, 2008) 18

The role of reflection during the first teaching experience of foreign language pre-service

teachers: an exploratory-case study (Cote, 2017) 20

1.4.3. International studies 22

Teachers’ Attitudes towards Reflectivity is the essence of quality teaching and learning by Iqbal,

Bin, Alam, Shahfiq ur, Shabir, & Wajid (2013) 22

Reflective Practice: The Teacher in the Mirror by (Rayford, 2016) 23

1.5 Justification 26

2. Theoretical framework 28

2.1 Reflective teaching 28

2.2 Metacognitive Strategies 36

2.3 Professional Development 40

3. Methodology 48

3.1 Type of research: Action research 48


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3.2 Instruments for data collection: 51

A Teaching Journal: 51

Questionnaire: 51

Questionnaire to the Supervisor (personal contact): ¡Error! Marcador no definido.

Questionnaire to the Students (Group): 52

KTP (Kids and Teens Program) Checklist: 53

Metacognitive questionnaire: 53

4. Context description 54

5. Pedagogical Proposal 56

6. Data Analysis 65

Core category: Action plans based on metacognitive strategies and reflection to enhance teachers’

professional development 70

Subcategory 1: “Reflective Teaching” 71

Subcategory 2: “Metacognitive strategies” 75

Subcategory 3: “Professional development” 77

7. Conclusions 82

8. References 84


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Index of Figures

Figure 1: Relation between the three subcategories and the core category


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List of tables

Table 1: Students' opinions regarding the pre-service teachers' performance .

Table 2: Activities that students’ like to do in class.

Table 3 Students' feelings towards the class.


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1. Problem

1.1. Problem statement.

In the practicum process at Centro Colombo Americano in the KTP (Kids and Teens

Program), two pre-service teachers from Universidad Libre realized about their need to learn

how to be an effective teacher, a teacher that not only accomplishes the standards given by the

institution, but also that assures students’ proficiency in the foreign language. This need was

identified through an exhaustive self-observation and peer-observation.

The language was concerned about the practitioners' performance, therefore, there was a

weekly meeting with a supervisor and other pre-service teachers to discuss and socialize topics

related to English teaching regarding the parameters established by the institution. Furthermore,

the practitioners carried out of presentations about pedagogical issues and English advanced

topics (grammar, pronunciation, etc).

In order to develop the practicum, each pre-service teacher had two courses. One of them

was shared with a team-teacher (it means an experienced teacher that was in charge of the class).

Each practitioner was supposed to carry out activities progressively until he or she ended up

delivering the whole class. Also, there was a regular observation done by the team-teacher, in

which he/she gave constant feedback according to the performance in the classroom. As a result,

the two novice teachers needed to work on their use of transitions (sentences to connect

activities), use of learning strategies, time management and assessment. As a result, the two


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novice teachers needed to work on their use of transitions (sentences to connect activities), use of

learning strategies, time management and assessment.

In addition, each practitioner was responsible for teaching a course by their own. Here,

the supervisor observed the practitioners' classes, twice a semester. This with the purpose of

identifying if they accomplished the institution's requirements (Task Based Learning and

Communicative Approach), using a checklist to assess their performance (See annex A). As a

consequence, the supervisor's feedback was congruent with the team-teachers' advice. (See annex

C)

Thus, as self-examination each pre-service teacher reflected upon their process and

practicum in a teaching journal. By doing this, they wrote how their classes were developed,

including number of students, the type of activities that were done that class, how those activities

were performed and a reflection of how the class could have been better. In these journals, they

could find some weaknesses in their teaching practice, such as the implementation of learning

strategies, teaching grammar, time management, group management, attention spread, an

appropriate use of English register. As it can be seen, reflective teaching was a core topic in our

research query, which is one of the main constructs of this study. (See annex B)

Besides, there was a regular observation done by a team-teacher, he/she gave the pre-

service teachers constant feedback according to their performance in the classroom.

Additionally, a supervisor observed the practitioners' classes, twice a semester. In both cases,

pre-service teachers showed that their performances had to improve in order to accomplish

Centro Colombo Americano standards (See annex A). In other words, it was necessary to first


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reflect upon the reflective practice and make decisions about that, this is known as professional

development.

Based on the data collected all along the diagnostic phase, it is possible to recognize the

existence of a necessity, related to teachers’ performance that assure standards’ fulfillment and

students’ settlement. Without effective teachers, effective learning is a difficult goal to

accomplish, in other words, if teachers do not accomplish with the requirements given by the

institution and do not worried about their students’ learning, it is not possible to guide and

provide students with tools to learn English as a foreign language. This is the reason why this

project is centered on teachers’ needs.

1.2. Research question

How can metacognitive strategies foster professional development in pre-service teachers

based on a reflective teaching process?

1.3. Objectives

1.3.1 General objective.

Analyze the impact of reflective teaching and metacognitive strategies on pre-service

teachers’ professional development.

1.3.2 Specific objectives.

1. Foster professional development for pre-service language teachers by using a form based

on metacognitive strategies.


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2. Characterize the class-to-class process based on the phases of metacognitive strategies

(planning, monitoring and evaluating).

3. Interpret the result obtained under the concept of reflective teaching on pre-service

teachers’ professional development.

1.4. Background research

In this part of the investigation, some background studies are going to be summarized.

These, with the purpose of recognizing the importance of what other researchers have done in the

field, and also, in order to establish what the contributions of these studies are for the current

project. Therefore, they are organized in the categories of: local studies, national studies and

international studies.

1.4.1. Local studies

A mirror reflective teaching practices: Universidad Libre (Fúquene & Parra, 2014)

To begin with, there is a project called “A mirror reflective teaching practices” by

Fúquene & Parra, a thesis for a MA in education foreign languages emphasis at Universidad

Libre. In this paper, it is possible to see how peer-assessment as part of a reflective teaching

process takes action in teachers’ professional development. At first, Fúquene & Parra set a

question research related to “collaborative work, by giving feedback to each other, teachers

could deal with their difficulties going deeply in their classes’ analysis to find […] weaknesses

and strengths”. In order to solve the problem, they set some objectives; a general objective that


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was to “analyze the influence of peer feedback in the reflective teaching process of two

researchers at two state schools”; and four specific objectives:

The first was to review the theoretical documents about peer feedback, reflective teaching

and professional development. The second was to design instruments to collect data from

teacher researchers’ classes. The third was to observe the partners’ classes in order to

highlight weaknesses and strengths in their practice. The last one was to reflect upon the

teaching practice based on collaborative analysis of the teacher researchers’ classes.

(Fúquene & Parra, 2014, pág. 11)

Thereby, as an action research, it shows different strategies for data collection, as

lessons plans, performance of the class, observation (log and observation format) and a reflect

done every day. They did this in order to have enough information for analysis and create their

own conclusions. In the analysis stag, the researchers created 3 categories aiming to answer the

question research.

The result of this thesis shows that peer-feedback has a positive impact on the reflective

teaching process owing to how these processes help teachers to discover their weaknesses and

strengths in their practice that they could not see before. Fúquene & Parra claim that the

reflective process helps teachers to feel more “aware of about their environment and their

abilities and limitations” (2014, p. 89), not only by peer-assessment but also using self-

assessment.


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Given the fact that most of the projects presented in the graduated program at

Universidad Libre are based on students’ needs “A mirror reflective teaching practices” provides

this paper with a general idea of how to develop a project from the teachers’ view. Also, this

thesis mentions several theoreticians and methodologies which can give some theoretical support

to develop this paper, due to the base of the research framework is peer-feedback, reflective

teaching and professional development; the last two topics are very close to what this paper

focuses on.

Exploring Reflective Teaching through Informed Journal Keeping and Blog Group

Discussion in the Teaching Practicum. (Insuasty & Zambrano, 2010)

Regarding some other local studies, there is an investigation from Universidad Nacional

de Colombia called “Exploring Reflective Teaching through Informed Journal Keeping and Blog

Group Discussion in the Teaching Practicum”. The researchers found that the practice in foreign

languages at a public university had some weaknesses, because practitioners were not developing

their reflective skills as teachers although the existence of institutional regulations in that sense.

For this reason, the researchers decided to carry out a study that helped pre-service

teachers to go beyond of giving tests, following a syllabus and reciting textbooks, in this way

they could be more reflective and critical about their practice. In order to do this, the

investigation sought four objectives: (a) to determine the type of perceptions student teachers had

about reflective teaching, (b) to broaden student teachers’ insights into reflective teaching, (c) to

stimulate student teachers to explore reflective teaching tools during the practicum experience,

and (d) to ascertain to what extent student teachers became reflective practitioners.


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With the purpose of reaching the previous objectives, this study used Curricular Action

Research. The investigation 'also had other defining features of action research such as being

small-scale, localized, and aimed at discovering, developing, or monitoring changes to practice'

(Wallace, cited in Insuasty & Zambrano, 2010. P. 92).

The population for this study were six pre-service teachers during a length of six months.

They developed their reflective process through several tools like, a journal keeping (with regard

to description, interpretation, intervention aspects and action plans), blog group discussions (in

which pre-service teachers and supervisors gave feedback about the posts) and group or

individual conferences to express their feelings and perceptions about reflective teaching.

All this process, allowed the six pre-service teachers to enhance the initial perceptions

they had about reflective teaching, also to improve in terms of reflectivity through the use of:

informed journal keeping and blog group discussions. In addition, they demonstrated to have'

expanded their insights into reflective teaching and adopted a more reflective and critical attitude

in their practicum. Informed diary keeping and blog group discussion proved to be positive

strategies for this purpose because they promoted the development of student teachers’ critical

thinking through writing' (Insuasty & Zambrano, 2010. P. 100).

By the end of the research, it was concluded that reflection is a process that needs to be

well structured as the authors affirm “It needs to be shaped by a systematic professional

development process through which student teachers are involved in a wide range of observation,

analysis, exploration and evaluation experiences” (Insuasty & Zambrano, 2010, p. 101).


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In this way, the research brings to light important aspects to take into account in the

present project when reflecting on teaching. To begin with, it provides many ways to develop

and structure a reflective process. But also, it remarks the importance of reflection as a

systematic process that can be ‘‘aught, learnt, assessed, discussed and researched” (Insuasty &

Zambrano, 2010, p. 101). Finally, it proposes reflection as a way to encourage teachers to create

professional development plans.

1.4.2. National studies

Teachers' Attitudes towards Reflective Teaching: Evidences in a Professional

Development: Universidad de Córdoba. (Jerez, 2008)

In addition, there is a research article that shows what the most common posture from

teachers is based on a professional development program. Jerez (2008, p. 92), explains how

“reflective teaching is a paradigm that dominates teacher education around the world and most

professional development programs include it as a way to improve teachers' practice.” Although

it shows the idea that being reflective on the teaching process brings benefits in teachers’

practice, teachers do not take advantage of these kind of tools as it should be. She establishes that

“this is a process that has to be guided and designed rather than be left at random” (Jerez, 2008,

p. 92). In other words, to improve efficiency on teachers’ performance they must have a

commitment with the process. In Jerez’ words the purpose of the study is:

Aimed at engaging two in-service teachers from a public school in Bogotá while they

were participating in a professional development program to initiate a reflective thinking


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process that could allow them to question their beliefs and actions as a way to improve

their practice. (Jerez, 2008, p. 92)

This purpose was set from four question research:

How are teachers’ attitudes toward reflective teaching manifested in a professional

development program?; What are the factors that influence teachers’ attitudes towards

reflective teaching in a PDP?; What kind of changes took place as a result of reflection

and action on the teachers’ part? (Jerez, 2008, p. 96)

In order to solve this, the researcher set a qualitative case research study based on

description and prescription perspectives of two teachers in Bogotá. The data collection

instruments used were: observation, interviewing, questionnaires, videotaping and diaries. From

these, information was analyzed and discuss to conclude that:

“in spite of the many difficulties encountered along the way, teachers demonstrated to

themselves that improving the teaching practice was possible as long as they wanted to

do it. They also seemed to be pleased with the final outcomes of the project and, to them,

this was their best achievement. At the end, several changes regarding their attitude

toward reflection were observed. The participants were more open-minded and shared

their experiences more overtly with others. They also included different activities in the

language class that aimed at enhancing their students’ learning even if these were

difficult to be carried out” (Jerez, 2008, p. 110)


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This study is necessary for the present project because it provides it with one of the main

concepts for the framework, professional development in teachers, giving a clear model and

objective of this paradigm. As this research was made at Universidad Distrital in Bogotá with

two practitioners of the undergraduate programs, the context of the education could be taken as a

model in the present paper. In addition, this article contributes with a useful concept for applying

in this research, teachers' reflective thinking, and gives different samples of tools to evidence

teachers’ reflections.

The role of reflection during the first teaching experience of foreign language pre-

service teachers: an exploratory-case study (Cote, 2017)

Furthermore, in Colombia some investigations have been done in the field. Gabriel Cote,

from Universidad de Pamplona, researched on “The role of reflection during the first teaching

experience of foreign language pre-service teachers: an exploratory-case study”. This research,

emerged from the fact that most of the investigations related to reflective teaching, focus on

different things rather than “providing participants and teacher educators with an opportunity to

begin to get a better understanding on the reflection process of pre-service teachers who are

engaged in their first teaching experience”. (Cote, 2017. P. 3)

As a consequence, the study was intended to answer the question: how does a reflective

process help student teachers to enhance their practicum? By means of an exploratory case study

that was carried out in “four educational institutions: two public high schools, one private

primary school and one public university located in a northern town in Colombia.” (Cote, 2017.


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P. 27) Additionally, concerning the population, four practitioners participated in the study using

the tools: reflective journals, interviews and classrooms observations.

Consequently, the researcher evidenced that the student teachers reflected during and

after the class, it means the categories proposed by Schön: reflection in and on action,

respectively. Moreover, all the pre-service teachers reached the first and second level of

reflection proposed by Van Manen (as cited in Cote, 2017). When they thought about the

effectiveness of certain aspects, such as materials or resources, as well as taking action plans to

improve the weak areas. In fact, only two teachers developed the third level of reflection, critical

thinking. This, through the reflection of aspects such as the new role they had to play according

to society requirements, or the diversity of classroom contexts like ethical background of

students, for example.

In the findings, the author stated that “student teachers’ processes of reflection on action

and reflection in action (Schön, 1987) helped them to redirect certain actions in their classrooms

or to implement necessary changes aimed at improving their teaching.” (Cote, 2017. P. 33)

Furthermore, regarding the the fact that only 2 participants reached the last level of reflection,

proposed by Van Manen’s (1977), revealed that there was a lack in terms of teachers' knowledge,

strategies and guidance, that were necessary to have high levels of reflection.

Finally, the importance of Cote’s work for this project lies on the variety of tools it

suggests for reflective practice as “attention should be given not only to the conceptualization but

also to the appropriate methodology that a more rigorous process of reflection entails” (Cote

Parra, 2017, p. 33), Moreover, it highlights the importance of raising awareness of the reflection


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process in teachers as it “will eventually change the way they deal with their first teaching

experience, making them more critical of and responsible for their professional and personal

growth” (Cote Parra, 2017, p. 33).

1.4.3. International studies

Teachers’ Attitudes towards Reflectivity is the essence of quality teaching and learning

by Iqbal, Bin, Alam, Shahfiq ur, Shabir, & Wajid (2013)

One of the international studies that is relevant for the present study is the one written by

Iqbal et al (2013). It provides different instruments and concepts to this paper, they claim that

effective teachers understand the problems that can present in the classroom and help students to

be better using reflection in their performance. With this in mind it is possible to say that the

purpose of this study was to investigate the teachers’ visions based on the role of reflective

practice in order to improve teachers’ performance in classroom. They used different instruments

for collecting data as a questionnaire that was designed and administered to 150 teachers in 30

Community Based Schools in district Chitral, KPK Pakistan. As a result, the study showed that

teachers who were trained in reflective practice have found a big difference in their teaching

skills. Iqbal et al (2013) claim that

The sampled teachers are now able to plan daily for their lessons. They are able to solve

their classroom problems more confidently than before. They keep regular reflective

diary in which they record their experiences on daily basis. They can solve the problems

of students and guide them in a more competent way. They involve their students in


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classroom discussion and report the progress of the students to parents and the school

management regularly. (p. 15)

The conclusion of this study was that reflective practice helps teachers develop their

teaching and learning skills. This is the foundation of professional development.

Teachers’ Attitudes towards Reflectivity is the essence of quality teaching and learning

helps to establish several connections between the different concepts that this paper discusses,

such as reflective teaching and professional development. Also, it gives a wide view of this

paradigm showing its concern of how to deal with the carelessness that most of the teachers have

about reflective teaching.

Reflective Practice: The Teacher in the Mirror by (Rayford, 2016)

Finally, “Reflective Practice: The Teacher in the Mirror” is a study by Celese Raenee

Rayford (2016), from the university of Nevada. The researcher observed that according to No

Child Left Behind Act of 2001, schools have to keep parents informed about teachers'

coalification, and principals have to propend for activities that encourage teachers' professional

development. As a result, “according to Berube and Dexter (2006), the challenge becomes how

to engage teachers and administrators in reflective instructional dialogue for the purpose of

improving instruction and increasing student achievement.” (As cited in Rayford, 2016. P. 4)

In this way, this study was intended to deepen perceptions of teachers and principals concerning

the new strategy, explained above, from a reflective practice perspective. Hence, some research

questions were set:


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1. What are elementary teachers' perceptions of the reflective practice process?

2. In what ways do elementary teachers promote reflective practice to enhance their

professional growth?

3. What are elementary administrators' perceptions of the reflective practice process?

4. In what ways do elementary administrators promote reflective practice to encourage

professional development of teachers and increase student achievement?

5. What are the similarities and differences between teachers' perceptions and

administrators' perceptions of reflective practice?

Regarding the methodology, the researcher said that “the study was conducted using a regional

cross-sectional survey design (Creswell, 2008; McMillan & Schumacher, 1997). The method of

sampling was targeted (Creswell, 2008)” (As cited in Rayford, 2016. P. 12). Additionally, an

average of 413 elementary teachers and administrators from different states, were surveyed and 6

teachers and administrators were interviewed to know their opinion about reflective practice.

Furthermore, most of the schools were located in urban and suburban settings, and the average

class size was 21-30 students.

Data analysis showed that elementary teachers thoughts about reflection were: that it is

very helpful when identifying weak areas and it helps teachers to improve their teaching

practices. Data also evidenced that teachers reflected during and after their practice, in order to

make adjustments in their classes. They also liked reflecting on their performance, and preferred

to do it alone, but they needed some time to dialogue with peers, too. In addition, it showed that

teachers perceived reflection to be very important for having a better teaching planning, and

because it enhances professional growth. Additionally, “the data suggested that principals


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perceived reflecting with others and reflecting about teaching to be useful in improving teachers'

performance in the classroom” (As cited in Rayford, 2016).

As conclusion, the results suggested that teachers were aware of the relevance of

reflection; for this reason, they were willing to participate in reflective practices. Moreover, it is

important that teachers want and feel free to offer suggestions to other colleagues with the

purpose of enhancing professional growth. Finally, “adult learning must be geared toward a

teacher taking personal action. It is the alternating engagement of the teacher being viewed as a

learner and an instructor” (As cited in Rayford, 2016)

Therefore, this study is closely related to the current investigation, because it raises

awareness of the usefulness of reflective practice in many aspects: improving teaching planning

and instructions, making adjustments during the class time and the most important one,

encouraging professional growth. Moreover, it provides some important information about peer

work when reflecting, because data suggested that teachers perceived it as a prior tool for the

process.


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1.5 Justification

Even though, being a teacher means someone who has knowledge in a specific area, this

does not mean that the teacher has finished his/her learning process. For this reason, reflective

teaching is an important practice which is believed to become a need in academic fields, such as

pre-service teachers or even experienced teachers.

Teachers usually look for several strategies to improve students’ learning, but sometimes

they forget about their own learning. Like teachers’ learning process never finishes some of

those strategies that are used for enhancing students’ learning, as metacognitive strategies, can be

applied to boost teachers’ performances. As a result, professors are aware of this and willing to

grow as teachers which seeks professional development.

This paper was born from the necessity of two pre-service teachers who did their

practicum in the Centro Colombo Americano. They have found some weaknesses in their

practicum. (See annex A, B & C). This research seeks to enhance the two pre-service teachers’

performances based on three concepts: reflective teaching, metacognitive strategies and

professional development.

The first concept is related directly to a critical self-assessment and reflection done by

teachers in order to have a good decision making, planning and performing processes in the

classroom. All of this with the purpose of propending an efficient environment which fosters

learning.


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The second construct is metacognitive strategies. These are based on learners and how

they are aware of their learning process through different stages as planning, supervising and

evaluating the success of a learning activity. Usually, these strategies are orientated to learners,

but the idea of this project is to adapt them to teachers, in order to use them as a tool to improve

their performances.

The final concept that this project will talk about, as it is mentioned above, is professional

development. This is understood as an ongoing process which looks for teachers’ progressions as

professionals in order to enhance education of quality. That is finally the duty of teachers, create

and promote spaces where students feel comfortable enough to learn and develop themselves as

people.


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2. Theoretical framework

Education changes according to the society where it is stated and so teachers do. Nowadays,

teachers are asked to be multicultural, comprehensive, innovators and planners; to place integral

students with special learning needs in their classrooms; to involve technologies for teaching;

and parents in the learning process. “No matter how good pre-service training for teachers is, it

cannot be expected to prepare teachers for all the challenges they will face throughout their

careers” (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development , 2009). In order to make

this possible, it is necessary to have teachers worried about their own process of professional

development. In this sense, they can take advantage of different tools to enhance this

professional growth. For this reason, this project entails tools as reflective teaching and

metacognitive strategies, that helps teachers to encourage their professional development.

Therefore, these three concepts are going to be explained below.

2.1 Reflective teaching

The first construct that this project takes into consideration is reflective teaching. In order

to be able to talk about this, it is necessary to set a definition of it. It is also important to mention

how reflective teaching becomes a cyclical process. Furthermore, it is possible to discuss how

decision making is important to reflective teaching. Finally, it is imperative to talk about

reflective teaching as a systematic inquiry, which entails three principles: practice is evidence

based, reflective practice involves dialogue and reflective teaching links beliefs and practices.

Reflective teaching is defined as an approach to teach. According to Jack Richards, it has

distinct stages, such as: “hand-in-hand with critical self-examination and reflection as a basis for


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decision making, planning and action in the classroom.” (Richards & Lockhart, 1994. p. ix) in

other words, reflective teaching is an autonomous process that each teacher should have. Here, it

is necessary to say that decision making, planning and action in the classroom become a cycle

that teachers must apply constantly on their classes.

Moreover, according to Schön (cited in Wallace, 1991), there are two different kinds of

professional knowledge. On the one hand, there is what he calls “received knowledge”; it refers

to all the theoretical background that a professional is supposed to know according to his career.

For instance, a language teacher is expected to know about linguistic concepts, such as,

intonation patterns or grammatical hierarchy. This means that there is certain knowledge that the

trainees do not experience in professional action, but they received from other sources like the

university.

On the other hand, there is the “experiential knowledge”, which Wallace (1991) defines

as the combination of the concepts knowing-in-action and reflection. When talking about

knowing-in-action, Schön (as cited in Wallace, 1991) says that it is when trainees are able to

recognize certain phenomena related to their practicum. On the other hand, reflection implies the

judgements trainees do about the phenomena they had already recognized. This can be done

through the “conscious development of insights into knowing in action” (Wallace, 1991. P. 13)

or based on different theories and techniques.

Furthermore, Schön (as cited in Gaynor, 2013) categorizes reflection into two different

types. The first one is called reflection-in-action understood as a process made in context, took

no basis and createing new theories based on the reality.


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Regarding reflective teaching, Wallace (1998) highlights that it is a common activity

among teachers, and he talks about the situations in which this can happen. For example, when a

teacher has had a class that went extremely good or extremely bad, he or she reflects on the

things that were done during the class time, and how well they resulted or how wrong they went.

In addition, the author says that the purpose of this kind of reflection is to avoid certain mistakes,

or to repeat some things that went right.

In this approach, teachers must take different conditions into account, like collection of

data, teachers’ and students’ beliefs and attitudes, and the practice itself to have a critical

reflection about their teaching processes. All of these with the purpose of helping the teacher in

the decision-making process. (Richards & Lockhart,1994).

According to Richards & Lockhart (1994), decision making is the process in which the

teacher has different options and it is required to select from among these options the ones he

thinks are the best suited to a particular goal. These decisions have three types, beginning with

planning decisions, interactive decisions and evaluative decisions.

Planning decisions are each moment where the teacher develops macro-plans or goals for

a course or a class. The lesson plan helps teachers to organize the lesson to effectively

accomplish the objectives, the activities, the time needed, resources, teaching strategies,

grouping arrangement, possible problems and action plans (Richards & Lockhart,1994).

Interactive decisions could also be included in the starting point of the class. Lessons

must be dynamic, each decision that the teacher makes in order to have more dynamic classes is


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an interactive decision. These decisions are part of teaching skills, which enables teachers to

assess students’ response in each dynamic activity (Richards & Lockhart,1994).

The last type of decisions is evaluative; Richards and Lockhart (1994) stated that, it refers

to decisions made after the lesson. Usually, evaluative decisions are done based on certain

criteria. These criteria must be set on students and teachers’ necessities. The idea is that after

having the evaluation process, the teacher starts to create an action plan to improve his classes.

Here is where the cycle starts once more.

In the book “reflective practice” Farrell (2013) cites John Dewey and his thoughts about

reflective inquiry. He highlights the importance of reflection for emancipating teachers from the

routine, which seeks to teach classes rather than teaching students. Regarding to this aspect

Dewey (as cited in Farrell, 2013) said that reflection allows teachers to emancipate from routine

activities, because they direct, plan and foresight activities and “considered reflective practice to

be intentional, systematic inquiry that is disciplined and will ultimately lead to change and

professional growth for teachers” (Dewey as cited in Farrell, 2013, p. 9)

Furthermore, when talking about reflective teaching, Farrell (2013) states three principles

for this process:

Practice is evidence based

Reflective practice involves dialogue

Reflective teaching links beliefs and practices


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These principles are extremely important as they help to clarify what a reflective process

entails. They set a clear perspective that reflection is a serious and rigorous process that involves

observation, being open to the possibility of learning from others, and expose the real classroom

practices.

Therefore, it emerges the first principle practice is evidence based. For this reason,

teachers should collect data as an evidence of their classes, in order to reflect on this, and finally

being able to make decisions. That is the reason the author proposes four questions that enable

reflection. In the first place “What do I do?”, also “Why do I do it?” and “How do I do it?”, and

at last “Will I change anything?”

Regards to the first question, “What do I do?” teachers recall information about an

incident or incidents that they perceived as significant. It is important to point out that such

incidents can be positive or negative, such as extending an activity because it was successful, or

having to change the activity because it was not working well for students. In this way, through

recalling, describing and analyzing those events, teachers have the opportunity to explore the

effectiveness of their teaching practices.

For this reason, teachers have the alternative of a case study about a specific situation

they have encountered during their practice. For instance, a problem or joy that the novice

teacher has experienced can be faced in different ways, such as: comparing classroom

participation of a low achieving student and a high achieving one, or how the teacher makes use

of a lesson plan, among others, are situations that have different perspectives to be face off.


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Thereby, a teacher “clarifies particular issues, looks at alternatives, and chooses a particular

course of action to follow”. (Farrell, 2013, p. 11.)

Consequently, there is the question “How do I do it?” At this point, teachers must go

beyond than just thinking about the things they do, but to gather information of what they do. In

order to do so, there are a wide range of options that teachers can consider. For example, self-

reflection, student’s views or even colleagues’ reflections (Farrell, 2013).

With regard to self-reflection, teachers can do this by means of keeping a teaching

journal or recording their classes. The fact of keeping a journal, requires teachers to stop to think

about their classes and gather general information (in which patterns can be found or focus on

specific aspects). Besides, recording lessons gives teachers the opportunity of realizing about

aspects they may not notice during the class. Thus, they can review by watching or listening to

the recording and reflecting upon that (Farrell, 2013).

Another way of collecting data is through students’ reflections (Farrell, 2013). Students

can be asked to give feedback to teachers by means of evaluations, concept maps, or just asking

them simple questions as “What was the class about?” or “What was difficult for you?”

Moreover, colleagues’ reflection is a different way to gather data. In this case, a peer observes

the classes of another teacher and then provides feedback. Therefore, when it comes to

colleagues' observation different types of instruments, such as quantitative or qualitative, may be

useful.

In addition, the question “why do I do it?” has to do with teachers’ beliefs regarding

learning and teaching English. In this stage, teachers reflect on their practices to notice if they are


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related to their beliefs or not, and if they want to change something about their performance

according to what they believe. As a consequence, teachers can ask themselves “Will I change

anything?”, and they can answer it according to the results of the previous questions.

The second principle is called reflective practice involves dialogue. The main goal of this

principle is to challenge teachers, as during self-reflection a teacher may biases the process,

focuses only on aspects that does not make him or her uncomfortable. However, the starting

point is a “dialogue self”, which can be done through an autobiography, for example. The

purpose of this is then being able to analyze the text according to the beliefs, values and

assumptions that guide teachers’ practices.

Subsequently, teachers can expand the dialogue to their peers. The first option is a critical

friendship, in which a colleague, who is also a friend, gives the teacher pieces of advice in terms

of education, instead of being a consultant. The next option is team teaching. In this case, two or

a group of teachers assume evaluating, planning and delivering classes as a group. The third

choice, is peer-coaching. Here, there are two teachers that agree on helping to improve aspects of

teaching of one or both of them by means of dialogue. Finally, there is the possibility to be part

of a teacher reflection group. Thus, teachers meet periodically, and they reflect and discuss

teaching aspects of their classes.

Moreover, a teacher can reach several levels of reflection. To begin with, the basic

reflection is the descriptive level, then there is the conceptual level which is based on teacher's’

description of their practice. In this level, it exits the possibility of exploring the theories behind

the practice, and also changing some practices according to students’ needs. Lastly, the critical


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level is the deeper reflection, and is related to the “context, society, moral, ethical and

sociopolitical issues”. (Farrell, 2013, p. 23)

Finally, the last principle is reflective practices links beliefs and values. Farrell took into

account Dewey’s (as cited in Farrell, 2013) thinking about this aspect. For this reason, it can be

said that teachers have some beliefs that they think they use in their practices known as (theories

in use) and then there are the actual theories they use during their practices called (espoused

theories). In this way, teachers’ practices are very influenced by their beliefs, values and theories

about learning and teaching. Yet, the theories they think they use during classes, are not always

the same they really use in their practice.

In conclusion, Farrell sets that “reflective practice means more that fleeting thoughts

before, during or after a lesson; it means examining what you do in the classroom and why you

do it”. (2013, p. 4) He also states, that practices in the classroom are related to the assumptions

and beliefs teachers have about teaching and learning English. In addition, he considers that

reflection has to be done through a systematic collection of information. As a result, the

importance of reflective practice lies in collecting evidence, since many teachers may have a

perception over a class, as a “good or a bad lesson” but most of the time they do not have

evidence to prove it.

Regarding reflective teaching, it is possible to agree on how this process is carried out by

teachers as an autonomous cyclical structure. Also, one consents with the fact of the importance

of making a contrast between received knowledge and experiential knowledge. One of the


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important affirmations, that is well appreciated, is the two kinds of reflection (reflection-in-

action and reflection-on-action) that are vital for this study.

2.2 Metacognitive Strategies

In addition to the first construct, this one refers to metacognitive strategies seen not only

as an instrument for students but as a tool that teachers can use during reflection, to be aware of

their own teaching process. For this reason, despite these strategies are commonly used for

learners, teachers can also take advantage of them, if they know how to adapt them to teaching.

Therefore, the first thing that is going to be presented is the concept of learning strategies

and its definition. Subsequently, there will be the three branches of learning strategies; cognitive

strategies, metacognitive strategies and social-affective strategies, with their corresponding

definitions.

As an introduction, it is valuable to mention a brief definition of the isolated terms

“learning” and “strategies”, as it provides a wider look at the historical background where this

concept comes from, how the two words finally got attached, and are applied to education.

Thus, according to Rebecca Oxford (1990), learning refers to the conscious knowledge

(in contrast, of the word “acquisition”, which talks about the unconscious or spontaneous

knowledge). In addition, there is the term strategy, that has its roots in the ancient Greek

strategia, used in the war, and related to the management of troops, more specifically “planning,

competition, conscious manipulation, and movement toward a goal” (Oxford, 1990, p. 7). Also,

another related term can be found, which is the word tactics, that refers to the necessary tools for


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accomplishing strategies. As time passed by, the term strategy lost its military connotation, and it

started to be connected to the actions carried out by people, in order to achieve an objective

(Oxford, 1990).

Having a historic context, now, it is necessary to take an overview to the definition of

learning strategies. It can be said that they are considered as the understanding and actions that

may magnify the achievement of a learning goal (O'Malley and Chamot, 1990). In addition,

Rebecca Oxford (1990) stated that metacognitive strategies are specific actions that the learner

takes in order to make the learning easier and faster. They also help it to be more enjoyable,

effective and self-direct. Finally, Oxford (1990) stated that these strategies make the learning

more transferrable to other or new situations.

In this way, according to O’Malley & Chamot (1990), learning strategies not only have

the purpose of facilitating the learning process, but also of affecting students’ motivation. In

contrast, it is important to highlight that sometimes these strategies are applied without

awareness, somehow, they can have the same beneficial impact over learning.

Moreover, O’Malley & Chamot (1990) claimed that learning strategies have been

classified, into three categories according to the type of mental process that they required. The

first class is known as cognitive strategies, they are “directly related to individual learning tasks

and entail direct manipulation or transformation of the learning material” (Brown & Palincsar, as

cited in O’Malley & Chamot, 1990. P. 8). The second class is called social-affective strategies,

which can be applied to a wide variety of tasks, through the interaction with people or

controlling the affective aspect of learning. Finally, the last category is metacognitive strategies,


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that involves thinking about the own learning process, by means of: “planning for learning,

monitoring of comprehension or production (...) and self-evaluating after the learning activity

has been completed” (O’Malley & Chamot,1990. P 8).

In this order of ideas, the focus of this investigation was based on the metacognitive

strategies. To give a more complete explanation, the concept metacognitive strategy is going to

be presented by isolating the term metacognition. Concerning this Flavell (as cited in Rowsome,

Lane, & Gordon, 2014, p. 152) defines it as “one’s knowledge concerning one’s own processes

and products or anything related to them”. Even though this definition is short, it essentially

explains what metacognition refers to. It is important to highlight that metacognition is divided

into two components: metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive control and regulation.

On the one hand, metacognitive knowledge can be referred to memory, comprehension

and learning processes that an individual is aware of. As Flavell (as cited in Rowsome, Lane, &

Gordon, 2014, p. 153) claims it is also “knowledge about persons, tasks, and strategies. Thus, it

includes knowledge about the strengths and weaknesses of one’s own memory and learning,

about cognitive requirements of tasks”.

On the other hand, metacognitive control and regulation is when the individual acquired

or applied metacognitive knowledge in their learning process. In fact, Schneider and Artelt (as

cited in Handel, Arlet, & Weinert, 2013, p. 45) say that “the actual and conscious regulation of

the learning process however takes place through planning, monitoring, and metastrategic

activities, that is, the implementation of metacognitive knowledge in the process of self-regulated

learning” this is what structures metacognitive strategies.


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This kind of strategies enables learners to be aware of their learning process through

“planning for, monitoring or evaluating the success of a learning activity” (O'Malley & Chamot,

1990, p. 44). Furthermore, they can be applied to a different range of tasks. For instance,

metacognitive strategies involve planning or anticipate for a task by means of directed attention

(focusing on what you are doing) or selective attention (pay attention to certain pieces of

information). Additionally, learners can apply self-monitoring to determine the effectiveness of

the task and the strategies they are using to develop the task, this can be done for example

through a self-questionnaire.

In contrast, Oxford (1990) suggests that metacognitive strategies mean going beyond the

cognitive part, by allowing students to pay a more independent role in their own learning

process. On top of that, Oxford (1990) claims that metacognitive strategies make language

learners more capable and she also proposes three categories for this kind of strategies, centering,

planning and evaluating the own learning.

As a result, the three categories of metacognitive strategies, previously mentioned,

involve some specific techniques. For example, in centering your learning, activities like

overviewing, linking with already known material and paying attention are part of it. In addition,

when arranging and planning your learning, some activities like organizing, setting goals or

seeking practice opportunities are present. Furthermore, in evaluating the own learning, two

options can be found: self-monitor and self-evaluation.

Taking into account all the theory explained above, it is possible to agree in terms of how

metacognitive strategies can be applied to handle and structure students’ knowledge. Also, to


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highlight the fact that they are extremely important when it comes to developing a more

autonomous and reflective learning process, as well as being more aware of the own knowledge.

The discrepancy starts when this kind of strategies are commonly used for students, but it is

believed that teachers can use them in order to enhance owns practice. As a result, the stages

“planning for, monitoring or evaluating the success of a learning activity” (O'Malley & Chamot,

1990, p. 44) are valuable for the current study, as they can entail a process that encourage

teachers to pay more attention to their teaching practice and find new ways to boost that practice.

2.3 Teachers’ Professional Development

The last construct to be reached in this theoretical framework is professional

development. To broach it, it is important, not also, to have a definition, but to mention the goals

it seeks, its tools to get it effectively, and some obstacles it may have.

As well as Reflective Teaching is an ongoing process, the Organization for Economic

Co-operation and Development define professional development (2009) as:

On-going, includes training, practice and feedback, and provides adequate time and

follow-up support. The ideal of successful programs is to involve teachers in learning

activities that are similar to ones they will use with their students, and encourage the

development of teachers’ learning communities. (p. 49)

It means that professional development seeks to enhance education by means of having better

teachers who are concerned by their students’ process. This aim is achieved thanks to a

continuous thinking procedure. This way of improving can be used not only by the teacher but


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also students can be involved in this. Here teachers might become students and vice versa in

order to learn from each other's experiences.

In addition, it is possible to say that effective professional development is a process “which

results in improvements in teachers’ knowledge and instructional practice, as well as improved

student learning outcomes.” (Wei, 2009, p. 3) In other words, effectiveness depends not only on

the activities that help teachers to improve, but on teachers’ performances after starting this

process. If they do not apply knowledge gotten from these activities in their practice, the process

itself becomes useless.

That is to say that “Professional development is defined as activities that develop an

individual’s skills, knowledge, expertise and other characteristics as a teacher.” (Organization for

Economic Co-operation and Development , 2009, p. 49) As it was explained before, professional

development seeks one single purpose, help teachers to be better. This can only be done by

setting some goals. That is why OECD (2009) states that teachers who search professional

development have some goals established. These goals can be divided into fields depending on

the area where they are located like:

● To be aware of new knowledge proposed in their area of expertise.

● To renew individuals’ skills, attitudes and strategies looking for the development of new

teaching techniques and goals, new circumstances and new educational research.

● To train individuals to make changes into curricula or other aspects of teaching practice.

● To empower schools to evolve and use new strategies regarding the curriculum and other

aspects of teaching practice.


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● To foster reciprocation of information and expertise among teachers and others; and to

aid weaker teachers become more effective.

These goals allow teachers to have a clearer perspective of development, how their practices

can take action and that there are many tools, as courses, workshops, collaboration among

schools or teachers, etc., in order to make this procedure easier. Also, it shows that this can be

done either in a collaborative group or without any support.

According to Darling-Hammond (2009) professional development becomes more

effective when it is focused on concrete tasks for teachers, assessment, observation and reflection

rather than abstract discussions. Here teachers have the opportunity to be more aware of their

own process by looking for the achievement of each task.

There is another focus that professional development can have, based on “the analysis of

the conceptual understanding and skills that students will be expected to demonstrate.” (Wei,

2009, p. 7) In this case, the teacher sees his progress according to the class evidence by being

aware of whether his students are learning or not.

The National Staff Development Council (NSDC), as Wei (2009), says that teachers must

have standards that point to specific practices and stances that allow effective professional

development. These standards are organized into three types: context, process and content. To

illustrate the first type “context”, below there is a quotation done by Wei:

Staff development can be defined as the standard that improves the learning of all

students by organizing adults into learning communities whose goals are aligned with

those of the school and district, also named Learning Communities. Furthermore, it


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requires skillful school and district leaders who guide continuous instructional

improvement known as Leadership. Moreover, it requires resources to support learning

and collaboration this is called Resources. (2009, p. 9)

Based on the citation, it is possible to say that context standards are used to involve the

community that surrounds the learning process the teacher is handling at that moment. Showing

that professional development also embraces, in a significant way, other actors like parents,

administrative personnel, etc.

The second type of standards is Process Standards, Wei (2009)

claims that these are used

for improving the learning of all students through data collection. It also uses multiple sources of

information to guide improvement and demonstrate its impact. In addition, it prepares educators

to apply research, make decisions and involve knowledge about human learning and change it to

improve learning. Finally, it provides educators with knowledge and skills to create an enriching

professional environment.

These standards are made for improving students’ learning process by means of teachers’

enriched practice process, whether in an individual or in a collective way. The base of this is the

data collection, because without this step there is no a possible action plan. To have a good data

to work with, it is useful to monitor progress according to the information that is gathered. If data

collection is well done, students will have an improvement but if it is not, there is not going to be

a change.


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The last type of standards is Content Standards, defined as:

Staff development that improves the learning of all students: it prepares educators to

understand and appreciate all students, create safe, orderly and supportive learning

environments, and hold high expectations for their academic achievement. It means

Equity. It also deepens educators’ content knowledge, provides them with research-based

instructional strategies to assist students in meeting rigorous academic standards, and

prepares them to use various types of classroom assessments appropriately in order to

have Quality Teaching. And it provides educators with knowledge and skills to involve

families and other stakeholders appropriately to have Family Involvement (Wei, 2009, p.

10)

Based on this, content standards are those which help teachers to create a favorable

environment, in order to have a good class development. These standards are based on the

content knowledge that teacher may or not have. This knowledge can be based on previous

experiences, talks with colleagues or college knowledge.

On top of that, there are areas to work on, in order to have an efficient professional

development. These areas are based on teachers’ necessities and they can be: teaching special

learning needs students, ICT teaching skills, student discipline and behavior problems,

instructional practice, subject field, student counselling, content and performance standards,

students’ assessment practices, teaching in a multicultural setting, classroom management and

school management and administration. All these areas and tools are articulated to reduce the


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negative impact in these fields; therefore, this permits teachers to have an effective professional

development.

Having talked about what professional development is, its goals, different tools to get an

effective professional development, different areas to work on, it is also important to talk about

some reasons that impede teachers to be part of professional development. This conflict, as

OECD (2009) claims is caused by several reasons like:

● Problems with work schedule.

● The belief that professional development is not suitable for teachers.

● Family responsibilities.

● The belief that professional development is too expensive.

● Lack of employers’ support in this process.

Thanks to professional development, teachers’ practices can be improved in different areas

with different types of tools. As OECD (2009) claims it is important that even if some teachers

are not making a structured process of professional development at least these teachers must

have informal dialogues that allow them apply knowledge.

In other words, the teacher can not only do the assessment process by himself but also by

having dialogues with colleagues. The teacher should also look for other sources of information

to create a bigger view with a huge range of possibilities to improve his practice.

To summarize, it is possible to say that professional development is a structured process

that is necessary in teachers’ practices, due to the fact that nowadays classrooms have changed,

have a lot of diversity and issues that can make demanding the way of teaching. In addition to


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this, teachers have the responsibility with the society to form better people. This process has

different tools to be effectively accomplished, different areas to work on, reasons that impede

teachers to be part of it. All of this should be taken into account when someone decides to be part

of this process.

On the other hand, some critics have been done to professional development, because,

according to Diaz-Maggioli (2004), there are some stumbling blocks when it comes to teacher

development. Most of the time, those problems are about effectiveness, and they have to do with

the different implementations of the process. But, at the end, all of them have in common ‘the

noble intention of improving student’s learning´ (Díaz-Maggioli, 2004, p. 1)

Consequently, some of the stumbling blocks (the most relevant ones) are going to be named,

and briefly described:

- Top down decision making: The first problem emerges when the teachers are not the

main actors of the process, but the administrators and consultants. This means for

example, that the teachers do not make decisions.

- As a consequence of the previous issue, there is a lack of ownership of the professional

development process and its results. This, is due to the fact that teachers feel their

voices are not heard.

- Lack of systematic evaluation of professional development: Usually these kinds of

processes are not evaluated, as assessing development seems almost impossible. But this,

is just owing to ‘the complex nature of teacher competence’ (Díaz-Maggioli, 2004, p. 4).


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Moreover, it would be beneficial if those evaluations were communicated to the teaching

communities.

- Standardize approaches to professional development that disregard the varied

needs and experiences of teachers: What happens with standardize programs is that

they presuppose that all teachers must be in the same level of performance. But they do

not take into account teacher’s particularities. Furthermore, ‘researchers have pointed out

that teachers go through certain developmental stages as they progress in their careers,

each of which triggers specific needs and crises that they must address’ (Fessler &

Christensen cited in Díaz-Maggioli, 2004 p. 4)

To conclude, it is important to highlight, on one hand, that the theory framed in teachers’

professional development is concern about how to make better teachers through training and

even if this is a valuable way to improve, it is not the only one. On the other hand, one agreed

on the importance of setting goals to improved, and being aware of the stigmas and problems

that may be presented all along the way of this process.


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3. Methodology

3.1 Type of research: Action research

This work is centered, as the title above claims, on action research. Cohen, Manion, &

Morrison (2011) highlight the cultural aspect of action research by saying that the concern of

change in this type of investigation is not only focused on individual cases, but that it also affects

the culture, in which the individual in submerged (culture understood as language, activities and

social relationships, among others).

In addition, Elliot (1990) defines action research, as the type of investigation that is based

on the diagnosis, in contrast to other kind of research that involve reflection and judgement on

prescription. Furthermore, this author proposes certain characteristics for action research in the

educational context:

1. Investigation is always related to the situations teachers have to face in daily practice, it

means the human problematics in a specific context.

2. The main purpose of the investigation is to explore the diagnosis or comprehension the

researcher has about a certain issue. Also, the diagnosis does not imply the appropriate

action, it only suggests some ideas.

3. The proposed action (which is always based on a theoretical background) should be

stopped while the investigator gets a complete understanding of the practical situation.


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4. Action research tries to explain what happens with a specific situation. When doing this,

a description of the issue (for example a case study) is done, rather than the formulation

of rules or statistics.

5.. The investigation takes into account the point of view of the people that are immersed in

the situation (for example teachers or students). That is why, the facts are considered as

human actions. For instance, an investigation can take into consideration people’s

thoughts and beliefs.

6.. As action research is closer to the participants' point of view, it uses colloquial language

in the reports, instead of complex abstract language.

7.. This kind of investigation, demands a self-reflection from the participants, by means of

the dialogue.

8.. Finally, trust between the investigator and the participants is really important, as the

researcher should have free access to the context, and in contrast, the participants should

have free access to the information of the investigation.

Moreover, research can be used in a wide variety of disciplines and fields, like

educational, industrial or sanitary environments. However, it will also imply a systematic and

organized process. In this way, Stenhouse (as cited in Elliot, 1990) said that it is the systematic

and ongoing study, that has to be planned and self-critical he also states that this process is close

to public critics and empirical tests, whenever these are appropriated.


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As a result, action research implies a specific set of actions, in order to carry out an

investigation through particular phases, which are often developed as cycles. Thus, according to

Richards & Lockhart (1994), initial reflection, planning, action and reflection compose this kind

of investigation.

Hence, the first phase of action research is the initial reflection, where the teacher needs

to observe what is happening in the classroom and reflect about it, in order to identify a concern

theme. In this way, "Some preliminary observation and critical reflection is usually needed to

convert a broad concern to an action them." (Richards & Lockhart, 1994. P. 27). The second

phase is planning, which involves deepening in a concern, through the use of information-

gathering instruments, as well as determining a detailed plan of action of the change the

researchers is intending to make.

Subsequently, there is the action phase, in there; the investigator has to carry out the

action plan that was set in the previous phase. After that, it is the observation part, in which the

researcher observes the effects of the action plan that was just developed. It also entails

monitoring and recording, in order to be able to report the process in detailed. Finally, it comes

the analysis and critical reflection about the relevance of what was done. This reflection involves

several aspects such as "how effective were your changes? What are the barriers to change? How

can you improve the changes you are trying to make?" (Richards & Lockhart, 1994. P. 27).


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3.2 Instruments for data collection:

A Teaching Journal:

A journal is a written recording of “events and ideas for the purpose of later reflection”.

(Richards & Lockhart, 1994, p. 7) In addition, according to McKernan (1996) it is a personal

document, in which the teacher writes not only the events, but also his concerns and beliefs that

can be useful for later processes of interpretation, evaluation and reflection.

For this reason, it is the first instrument in this investigation, in which the two pre-service

teachers talked about the description of their classes and their concerns. For this activity the

Universidad Libre format of teaching journal, was used. (See annex B)

Questionnaire:

It can be brief defined by Kemmis and McTaggart (As cited in McKernan, 1996. P. 125)

as 'written questions requiring responses'. In addition, according to McKernan (1996), the

questionnaire is one of the most common tools for data collection, as it is 'easy to administer,

provides direct responses of both factual and attitudinal information' (McKernan, 1996. p. 125).

In addition, he states that this tool can be compounded by two types of questions. Closed

questions, when people choose from a range of pre-established answers. Open questions, when

people can express their ideas in their own words.

Furthermore, there are three types of questionnaires; by mail, in group and having

personal contact. In the first type, the investigator sends the questionnaire via e-mail. In the


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second type, the investigator joins a group of people for answering the questionnaire. Finally, in

the last type the investigator meets the person, and ask him/her to answer the questions.

Questionnaire to the Supervisor (personal contact):

In Centro Colombo Americano, a supervisor is a person who observes teachers' classes,

with the purpose of providing assessment and feedback. In this particular case, a questioner was

applied to the practitioners’ supervisor, as the person who knew the pre-service teachers'

strengths and weaknesses This questionnaire intended to know her opinion about reflective

teaching, professional development and metacognitive strategies. (See annex D)

Regarding the practitioners’ supervisor, it can be said that she was an experienced teacher

who had worked for several years in the language center in different programs, such as the KTP

(Kids and Teens program) or the AEP (Adults English program). Nevertheless, her expertise area

was teaching little children and she also gave training to the practitioners in areas as teaching

how to use learning strategies in the classroom and adapting learning strategies to children.

Questionnaire to the Students (Group):

A questionnaire to the students, was developed with the purpose of knowing the opinion

and feelings of students about the general class environment and also, the pedagogical issues.

The total amount of students that answered this questionnaire, in the first and second application,

were 14. (See annex E and F)


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KTP (Kids and Teens Program) Checklist:

Furthermore, a process of self-assessment and peer-assessment was carried out through

the checklist, because after each class, pre-service teachers were asked to fill out a checklist

format. The information here is mainly about the pedagogical model (communicative approach

and task-based-learning). Furthermore, this is the same format that supervisors used to observe

pre-service and in-service teachers at the Colombo Americano. (See annex A)

Metacognitive questionnaire:

Finally, there is an instrument that the researchers have created. This instrument is based

on the three principles of metacognitive strategies (planning, monitoring and evaluating). And it

is designed to register and categorize the information from the interventions. (See annex G)


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4. Context description

Concerning the population for this study, it refers to two pre-service teachers. The first

one (Subject 1: S1), is a student from Universidad Libre in Bogotá, who started her languages

studies in 2013 and at the moment of the intervention was in ninth semester. Regarding her

personal information, she is 21 years old, and lives in Facatativá, a town located in

Cundinamarca-Colombia, at a distance of an hour and a half from Bogotá.

In relation to her practicum, it is important to say that before starting at the Centro

Colombo Americano, she had had some experience, working during one semester, at the English

and French Saturday courses of Universidad Libre.

The second subject (S2), is also a student of a languages studies at Universidad Libre.

She started her studies at this university in 2013 and at the moment of the intervention was in

ninth semester. Regarding her personal life, she is 22 years old, and was born in Cúcuta but she

has lived in Bogotá since she was a child. Concerning the teaching experience, the Colombo is

the first place where she started it.

As it was mentioned before, the two pre-service teachers started their practicum in the

second semester of 2016, at the Centro Colombo Americano, that is located in Bogotá,

downtown in street 19 #2a - 49. In order to be able to do the practicum there, they had to take an

English exam and an interview. Then, before starting the semester, it is mandatory to take a

training course, not only for the practitioners, but also for all the teachers that want to work at the

institute.


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In this way, the training course had two components; a theoretical and a practical part.

The former, was compound by readings, workshops and lectures regarding the pedagogical

model (communicative approach and task-based learning) and the philosophy of the institute.

The latter, the practical part was during the vacation course, where each trainee (or sometimes

two trainees) were sent to a class with a team teacher, in which the trainee had to observe the two

first classes, and then, had to implement activities in the classroom progressively, until he or she

ended up giving the whole class. In addition, the schedule for the training course was from

Monday to Friday, from 1 to 4 p.m., for two weeks.

In regard to the practicum during the semester, the two pre-service teachers worked in the

KTP “Kids and Teens Program”, that is only one of the different kinds of courses that the

Colombo Americano offers. The KTP courses are on Saturdays, and the two pre-service teachers

were delivering classes in the schedule from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. During the semester, the pre-

service teachers, that already took the training course, had two courses. One with a team teacher,

in which the trainee implemented activities progressively, and another by their own.


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5. Pedagogical Proposal

To plan classes, pre-and in-service teachers must follow a template with different

characteristics given by CCA. To begin with, the classes are planned on the framework of

Task-based-learning (TBL) and a communicative approach. Therefore, the institution

requires that the classes must have at least three interaction moments and a communicative

task. Other requirements are, communicative objectives, the use of a learning strategy per

class, a listening activity (with its pre, while and post stages), training on a specific

pronunciation pattern, teaching grammar inductively, and two moments of assessment.

The supervisor evaluates all these aspects twice a semester when he/she goes to observe a

class using the CCA’s checklist (See annex A). The aim of the observations is to provide

feedback to teachers in order for them to improve their performance. Teachers have to

deliver 16 classes during the semester. The implementation was done in 2017-1, between

March 11th

and May 13th

.

The decision of having the implementation part was taken from the problem statement,

when the two pre-service teachers realized that they had some weaknesses, such as time

management, the application of learning strategies, the use of transitions, etc. Therefore, they

needed to be more reflective about their practice, in order to improve their teaching

performance, and also their students learning. This can be evidenced in the supervisor’s

observation, and their teaching journal (See Annex B & C)


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IMPLEMENTATION #1: CLASS #6

Objectives:

Communication: Talk about party plans

Language: Use should and be going to

Learning strategy: Circumlocution

Pronunciation: Silent letter l

Task: What’s the best organization?

Pre-service teacher in charge: S1

Time: 100 minutes

Date: March 11th, 2017.

Evaluation: Self-assessment and formative assessment.

Materials: Book, color papers, slides, board, markers

During this class, as a warm up S1 used a game snap, clap and pop to review the

topics from previous classes. S1 also implemented a song in order to

contextualize the topic. Grammar explanation took more time than expected. All

the objectives were not reached because of time. The instrument applied was the

metacognitive questionnaire.


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Objectives:

Communication: Talk about buying recycled items and prohibitions in stores

Language: Use Must/Mustn´t

Learning Strategy: Use Predicting

Pronunciation: Get familiar with ‘contractions'

Task: To find the most common prohibition in stores


Time: 100 minutes


Evaluation: Peer-assessment, Self-assessment and formative assessment.

Materials: Book, color papers, slides, board, markers.

During this class, S2 applied the game of 'scrambled words' for students to practice the

topic 'must and mustn't'. S2 also applied a listening activity for contextualizing the grammar of

the lesson and subsequently study the grammatical rules. Students practice the pronunciation

pattern with a conversation model, and finally had some free practice in the task finding the most

common prohibition in stores. The instrument applied was the metacognitive questionnaire.


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Objectives:

Communication: Talk about your favorite playlist to select the best in class.

Language: Practice present simple

Pronunciation: Intonation

Learning Strategy: Scanning

Task: What’s the best playlist?


Time: 100 minutes


Evaluation: Peer-assessment, Self-assessment.


In this class students watched a video about music history in ancient Greece. They went

over a reading about how people used to listen to music and applied the strategy “scanning” in

order to answer some questions. To work on pronunciation, S1 asked students to identify how a

robot talks and tried not to imitate it, intonation was the key to succeed in this. For the task,

students had to select their three favorite songs and create a playlist to share with their partners.

All the objectives were achieved. The metacognitive questionnaire was the instrument applied in

this session.


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Objectives:

Communication: Talk about predictions to select the most amazing one.

Language: Use future with will.

Pronunciation: Contraction ‘ll.

Task: Select the most amazing prediction.


Time: 50 minutes


Evaluation: Formative assessment.

Materials: Book, notebook, slides, board, markers.

In this class, S2 applied the game 'Chinese whispers' as a warm up, and then a listening

activity about the future of human race for introducing the topic 'will' and analyzing the grammar

features of the sentences in the recording. After that, students practiced the contractions of will

with a conversation model. The class finished with students making their own predictions for

humanity in the task. The instrument for this class was the metacognitive questionnaire.


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Objectives:

Communication: Talk about music that helps you to learn English.

Language: Get familiar with and use first conditional.

Learning Strategy: Analyzing a grammar chart.

Pronunciation Tip: Contraction I’ll.

Task: Select the best kind of music that helps you to learn English.


Time: 100 minutes

Date: April the 8th, 2017.

Evaluation: Peer-assessment and formative assessment.

Materials: Book, notebook, slides, board, markers, pieces of paper with a peer-assessment

formats.

As a warm up, S2 played a video and students had to make up sentences about what was

going to happen next. Then, S2 developed a listening activity. After that, students used the

strategy 'analyzing a grammar chart' to study the topic: first conditional. Later, they practiced the

pronunciation pattern through an interaction activity. Finally, students talked to several

classmates about their favorite music to learn English. The instruments applied in this class were

the students' questionnaire (first application) and the metacognitive questionnaire.


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IMPLEMENTATION #6: CLASS # 11

Objectives:

Communication: Talk to your partner about possible plans.

Language: Practice first conditional

o Ex: If I go to University, I will study medicine

Task: Find out the least popular plan


Time: 100 minutes

Date: 29th, 2017.



For this class, the warm up was a competition game based on matching in order to practice

previous grammar topics. S1 used an extract from “Hercules” where the characters talked using

first conditional. Students had to focus their attention on the intention of the sentences.

Furthermore, they answered a question related to the video itself. The objectives were not fully

accomplished due to time. The instrument applied was the metacognitive questionnaire.


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Objectives:

Communication: Talk about traveling experiences.

Language: Use present perfect.

Example: Jessica Watson has become the youngest person to sail around the world alone.

Learning Strategy: Context clues.

Pronunciation Tip: Contractions I´ve - I haven’t

Task: Select the most extreme experience.


Time: 100 minutes

Date: May the 6th, 2017


Materials: Book, notebook, slides, board, markers, pieces of paper with the lyrics of a song.

I

The first activity was the warm up, in which students played 'Chinese whispers'. Then, they

used the learning strategy 'context clues' during a reading activity. Later, students did a filling in

the gaps activity with a song. After that, the grammar practice was made with some exercises on

the book. Finally, students practiced the pronunciation of contractions, and talked to their

classmates to select the most extreme experience. The instrument that S2 used in this class was

the metacognitive questionnaire.


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Objectives:

Communication: Talk about places to go on vacation.

Language: Use present perfect questions.

Learning Strategy: Taking notes.

Pronunciation: Contractions in short answers.

Task: Find the best city to relax.



Time: 100 minutes

Date: May 13th, 2017


Materials: Book, notebook, slides, board, markers.

In this class, the warm up was a game called 'the hot seat' with the purpose of practicing

vocabulary. Then, students applied the learning strategy 'taking notes' during a listening activity.

Subsequently, students practiced the target grammar with controlled activities in the book. After

that, they interacted for practicing the pronunciation pattern and had a peer-assessment moment.

Finally, in the task, students talked to their classmates to select the best city to relax. The

instrument that S2 applied this class was the metacognitive questionnaire.


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6. Data Analysis

For the data analysis, this project has taken Grounded Theory as a compass. The goal of

this methodology is to understand a situation by constructing a theory. As Stern (1995) claimed,

to gain more information of an unknown field or to get a new perspective on a specific situation.

Regarding this, Strauss and Corbin state that grounded theory is “a general methodology

for developing theory that is grounded in data systematically gathered and analyzed. Theory

evolves during actual research, and it does this through continuous interplay between analysis

and data collection.” (As cited in Bowen, 2008. p 273). In other words, data provides the

research all along the process with information from the analysis and the data itself by coding.

Coding

In order to define what coding is, it is possible to say, that is a process to categorize data

through a constant analysis of codes. These codes are a form of identifing, as Birks and Mills

(2011, p. 78) claim, “conceptual reoccurences and similiraties in the patterns of participants

experiences.” When a code is repeated several times it forms groups of codes representing a

higher level concept which forms a category.

According to Corbin and Strauss, it is possible to divide the data analysis into tree types

of codes: open, axial and selective. Open code is defined as a stage where the researcher must

identify different categories and concepts that emerge from an exhaustive analysis of the

collected data. These categories condense similarities that were found in the analyzed data, and

reflect some abstractions that could end up being a core category. (Mongue, 2015)


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Below the open codes that this investigation has, are going to be shown.

1. URLSS: Useful learning strategies for students.

2. AES: Activities engaging students.

3. RIAGE: Reflection in action about grammar explanation.

4. WES: Warm up engaging students.

5. ROAT: Reflection on action about timing.

6. CFO: Critical friendship about the outcome.

7. CFSAT: Critical friendship supervisors advise timing.

8. RIATDT: Reflection in action timing during the task.

9. CFTTSL: Critical friendship team-teacher advice listening.

10. ROATG: Reflection on action about timing because of grammar.

11. RIALS: Reflection in action about learning strategy.

12. RIAOGLS: Reflection in action about organization of groups in the learning

strategy.

13. RIBASGI: Reflection in action about being aware of students’ grammar

internalization

14. ROABE: Reflection on action for better explanations.

15. MYWEG: Monitoring yourself when explaining grammar.

16. MYOTO: Monitoring yourself to obtain the outcome.

17. CCA: Creating criteria for assessment.

18. M&ET: Monitoring and evaluating transitions.

19. MYDI: Monitoring yourself delivering instructions.

20. ECMP: Evaluating conversation models for pronunciation.

21. ETP: Evaluating timing when planning.

22. CUAPP: Choose useful activity for pronunciation when planning.

23. BASAP: Being aware of streinghts during assessment planification

24. ROAELP: Reflection on action about forgetting the lesson plan.

25. MYT: Monitor yourself about timing.


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26. CWUTMSLFME: Creating warm up to make students learn faster and more

eficiently.

27. ECDT: Evaluating collecting data for the task.

28. SRTPA: Students reflection through peer-assessment.

29. SNWCSUI: Searching new ways to confirm students understanding of

instructions.

30. FRMTCM: Finding the right moment to correct mistakes

31. FBWDIof instrcutions conhrough per: Finding better ways to deliver instructions.

32. APPT: Ation plans for pronunciation topics.

33. APLBU: Action plans listening better understanding.

34. APCDT: Action plan for collecting data for the task.

35. SBURL: Seeking better understanding regarding listening.

36. ISPRP: Improve students’ performance regarding participation.

37. APTGITPC: Action plan for teaching grammar inductively thanks to peer-

couching.

38. TPTSL: Teachers’ progress through students’ learning.

39. DIBU: Divide instructions for better understanding.

40. ROATAS: Reflection on action about teachers attention spread.

41. ROAEPT: Reflection on action about explanation of pronunciation.

42. ROALLD:Reflection on action about listening level difficulty.

46. RIAUI: Reflection in action about understanding of instructitructions.

47. RIATASCP: Reflection in action to avoid supre-correction in pronunciation.

48. ROATP: Reflection in action about timing when planing.

49. ROAFLP: Reflection on action about following the lesson plan.

50. ROATRAO: Reflection on action about timing in order to reach all the objectives.


On top of that, axial code is, according to Corbin and Strauss (cited in Birks & Mills,

2011) “a set of procedures where by data are put back together in new ways after open coding,


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by making conections (and within) categories”(p. 96). As a concequense, this type of code is

based on organizing the open codes into groups by looking for patterns and making explicit

relationships among them.

In this research, there have been created three subcategories where the open codes were

placed.

SUBCATEGORY #1: Reflective Teaching

1. RIAGE: Reflection in action about grammar explanation.

2. ROAT: Reflection on action about timing

3. CFO: Critical friendship about the outcome.

4. CFSAT: Critical friendship supervisors advise timing.

5. RIATDT: Reflection in action timing during the task.

6. CFTTSL: Critical friendship team-teacher advice listening.

7. ROATG: Reflection on action about timing because of grammar.

8. RIALS: Reflection in action about learning strategy.

9. RIAOGLS: Reflection in action about organization of groups in the learning

strategy.

10. RIBASGI: Reflection in action about being aware of students’ grammar

internalization

11. ROATAS: Reflection on action about teachers attention spread.

12. ROAEPT: Reflection on action about explanation of pronunciation.

13. ROALLD:Reflection on action about listening level difficulty.

14. RIAUI: Reflection in action about understanding of instructitructions.

15. RIATASCP: Reflection in action to avoid supre-correction in pronunciation.

16. ROATP: Reflection in action about timing when planing.

17. ROAFLP: Reflection on action about following the lesson plan.

18. ROATRAO: Reflection on action about timing in order to reach all the objectives.



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SUBCATEGORY #2: Metacognitive Strategies

1. MYWEG: Monitoring yourself when explaining grammar.

2. MYOTO: Monitoring yourself to obtain the outcome.

3. CCA: Creating criteria for assessment.

4. M&ET: Monitoring and evaluating transitions.

5. MYDI: Monitoring yourself delivering instructions.

6. ECMP: Evaluating conversation models for pronunciation.

7. ETP: Evaluating timing when planning.

8. CUAPP: Choose useful activity for pronunciation when planning.

9. BASAP: Being aware of streinghts during assessment planification


11. MYT: Monitor yourself about timing.

12. CWUTMSLFME: Creating warm up to make students learn faster and more

eficiently.

13. ECDT: Evaluating collecting data for the task.

SUBCATEGORY #3 Professional Development

1. SRTPA: Students reflection through peer-assessment.

2. SNWCSUI: Searching new ways to confirm students understanding of

instructions.

3. FRMTCM: Finding the right moment to correct mistakes

4. FBWDIof instrcutions conhrough per: Finding better ways to deliver instructions.

5. APPT: Ation plans for pronunciation topics.

6. APLBU: Action plans listening better understanding.

7. APCDT: Action plan for collecting data for the task.

8. SBURL: Seeking better understanding regarding listening.

9. ISPRP: Improve students’ performance regarding participation.


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10. APTGITPC: Action plan for teaching grammar inductively thanks to peer-

couching.

11. TPTSL: Teachers’ progress through students’ learning.

12. APCS: S: Action plan for class structure.

13. APT: Action plan for timing.

14. APELS: Action plan for evaluating learning strategies.

15. DIBU: Divide instructions for better understanding.

16. APCS: Action plan for class structure.

17. APT: Action plan for timing.

18. APELS: Action plan for evaluating learning strategies.

Finally, this explanation would not be complete without the selective code. It is, according to

Robert Wright (2014), the interpretative part of all this process. In this type of coding, the researcher

joins all the categoregories into a core category that seeks to answer the reasearch question. This core

category will be defined as follows:

Core category: Action plans based on metacognitive strategies and reflection to enhance

teachers’ professional development

Metacognition and reflection are two concepts closely related that can be applied into teachers’

professional development. On the one hand, metacognition permits people to be more aware of their

mind and all the processes that this can have. It means that it shows how people learn and grow as time

passes. On the other hand, reflection is a process where people either see how they are acting in the

moment or see how they acted in a specific situation and make decisions on how to change.


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SUBCATEGORY

#1: REFLECTIVE

TEACHING

SUBCATEGORY

#2:

METACOGNITIVE

STRATEGIES

SUBCATEGORY

#3:

PROFESSIONAL

DEVELOPMENT

CORE CATEGORY: ACTION PLANS BASED ON METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES AND REFLECTION TO ENHANCE TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Furthermore, teachers’ professional development means and is related to be better teachers

(inside and outside the classroom) by using different tools as reflection, training and/or dialogue with

peers. Below, there is an illustration of how the subcategories are related to the core category.

Figure 1: Relation between the three subcategories and the core category

Below, these three concepts are going to be defined by means of subcategories, showing how

the instruments of collected data provide evidence.

Subcategory 1: “Reflective Teaching”

The first subcategory shows the importance of a self-reflection and peer-reflection practice for

teachers. Self-reflection understood as a systematic and periodic procedure that every teacher should


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carry out. This process entails a rigorous self-examination and self-monitoring part that allows teachers

to be aware of the things they do in their classes, and the reasons why they do them. Furthermore, peer-

reflection is how teachers through dialogue with their peers can be aware of the weaknesses in his/her

performance. Moreover, the importance of this subcategory relies on the fact that teachers can take

action plans in order to overcome their difficulties. As a result, they can become better teachers and

improve their students' learning.

The reflection category is based on the data results from the metacognitive questionnaire and

students’ questionnaire (first and second application). These evidenced how teachers can be aware of

their own practice, not only during the class time but also outside the classroom, taking into account

their peer’s observation and advise referring to class development.

In order to understand this in a wider perspective, it is necessary to give an introduction about

reflective teaching. Dewey “considered reflective practice to be intentional, systematic inquiry that is

disciplined and will ultimately lead to change and professional growth for teachers” (as cited in Farrell,

2013. p. 9) Additionally, Farrell (2013) stated that the most important thing in a reflective process is

that it has to be evidence-based. It means that, teachers can collect data as source for future reflection.

Also, they can take advantage of the “critical friendship” to improve their weaknesses. Finally, it is

possible to say that as Schön (as cited in Gaynor, 2013) claims there are two types of reflection

(reflection-in-action, reflection-on-action), and that both of them are necessary to make this process

more systematic.

The first instrument that showed evidence of a reflective process was the “Metacognitive

questionnaire”, in which the pre-service teachers had to reflect after every single class, about several


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aspects like, the things they did well, the things they needed to improve and how they would improve

those things, among others.

When pre-service teachers used this questionnaire, some categories of reflection, proposed by

Schön, were found. The first one is reflection-in-action as it can be appreciated in this extract:

“Students developed an activity about analyzing a grammar chart, and after socializing the answers,

students had to do a filling in the gap activity, in order to practice grammar. This was a big mistake

because I skipped the part when I had to elicit information about the context of present perfect, and

then clarify the structure with the help of students, before the controlled practice. To fix this, I did the

grammar and context explanation taking as an example the first answer in the activity that students

did.” (S2, Metacognitive questionnaire 4)

Hence, it is evident that the normal routine of the class was disturbed by the fact that the pre-

service teacher skipped the contextualization part, before the controlled practice. As a result, the

practitioner was aware of the mistake, reflected about it and took an action to fix the situation; she

had to redirect the class by explaining grammar after the controlled practice.

Another example of reflection-in-action is this: “I had to reduce the interaction during the

task, because I was running out of time”. (S2 Metacognitive questionnaire 1) During the class

development, the pre-service teacher reflected about timing and decided to do something about it. She

realized that she was having issues with timing; therefore, she reduced the amount of interaction.

Besides that, it is possible to evidence reflection-on-action in the following extract: “I took a

lot of class time trying to lead those topics clear that I didn’t notice when the time went away and the

bell rang” (S1 Metacognitive questionnaire 1) In here, the pre-service teacher is aware of the mistake

or weakness that she had in class after she finished it. As Schön (cited in Gaynor, 2013) says this kind


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of reflection takes place after class, when the teacher takes some time to think what could have gone

better.

In addition, as Farrell (2013) suggested, students' feedback was asked at two different moments

of the course, in the middle and at the end. Students answered a questionnaire in which they had to

give their opinion about aspects, such as the activities they liked and did not like of the class, their

feelings and the environment in the classroom.

Specifically, the second question of this instrument was about the activities students did not like

from the class and why. In the first application, the answers were listening, the learning strategy:

predicting, activities on the notebook, and only some students said that they liked all the activities.

Some of these answers were “No me gusta la actividad de “prediction”, porque no le veo la finalidad”,

“No me gustan las de hacer ejercicios en el cuaderno. Porque son aburridas”, “Las de escucha algunas

veces no entiendo”.

This shows that students’ questionnaire was an opportunity for pre-service teachers’ reflection

about their teaching practice. The two practitioners reflected upon the activities students did not feel

comfortable with, and improved this aspect. As a consequence, in the second application most of the

students said they have liked all the class' activities.

Finally, a supervisor observed the pre-service teachers' classes and gave them some

recommendations. These advices were evidenced in the following extract: “I took into account our

supervisor’s advice about the listening part. So, this time I tried to make students listen to the

recording, without looking at the transcription, which was next to the questions they had to answer, by

asking them to cover it with their pencil case”. It is evident that the pre-service teacher took into

account a weakness that the supervisor appreciated during the listening part. Thus, she worked on this


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aspect in the next class. In this way, she was making changes in her teacher practice with the purpose

of helping students to improve their listening skills

Subcategory 2: “Metacognitive strategies”

The second subcategory is based on the awareness of the knowledge and how people receive

and internalize that information. As Rebecca Oxford (1990) stated, this consciousness allows to learn

easier, faster and, more efficiently, which represent advantages in terms of learning skills . However

the most relevant part of metacognitive strategies is that they help students to play a more independent

role in their own learning process (Rebecca Oxford, 1990). Even though, these strategies are

commonly used to help students in and outside the classroom, here it is verified that teachers can

utilize them in order to be more aware of their performance. It is important to highlight that

metacognitive strategies are divided into three: planning, monitoring and evaluating (O'Malley &

Chamot, 1990). These types of strategies are sequential, and should be done in that order so the process

becomes more efficient. This is due to the fact that a class need to be planned, before to be teach.

When the teacher is in class he/she monitors him/herself and finally the session is evaluated according

to the performance and the monitoring stage.

This subcategory can be seen in different parts of the metacognitive questionnaire, where the

two pre-service teachers monitored and evaluated their teaching performance. Evidence of this is the

following extract, in which the teacher monitored herself to obtain the outcome of the task: “I have

been told that the outcome of the task should not be based on students' votes, but in the results of the

interaction. I was aware of this during the task, but I could not find a better way to take out the

outcome”. (S2 Metacognitive questionnaire 4)


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Another example of this is the subsequent extract: “Though I had transitions in my lesson plan,

I forgot to say some of them when I was in class”. (S2 Metacognitive questionnaire 1) It is evident that

the teacher monitored herself and evaluated the use of transitions. Also, she made a contrast between

the things she had planned and the results during the class.

In addition, this extract shows how the teacher monitored herself when she was delivering

instructions: “I was not clear enough when I asked some questions to students. For example, when I

was in the evaluation part of the learning strategy, and asked them if the strategy (predicting) was

helpful for developing the listening activity. Students thought I was talking about the listening topic

(recycling clothes) and asking if this was helpful for the environment”. (S2 Metacognitive

questionnaire 1)

The last three extracts were the answers to a part in the metacognitive questionnaire called

“Three things you did not do as well as you would have liked to do in the classroom”. Therefore, it

demonstrates that the teachers monitored and evaluated their actions in the classroom, and this helped

them to be more aware of their weaknesses and identify the specific areas they needed to work on.

At this point, it is important to remember that metacognitive strategies refer to the development

of activities that help learners to monitor their own learning process. In this order of ideas, the fact of

having a metacognitive questionnaire, created to check the three moments of metacognition

(planning, monitoring and evaluating), is a metacognitive strategy that allows reflection in different

areas. This, as the questionnaire is playing the role of an activity that helps teachers to monitor their

teaching practice.

Furthermore, the supervisor's questionnaire was another tool that showed the importance of

metacognitive strategies as a way to carry out teachers' reflective process. The supervisor's answer


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about this issue was: 'Although meta-cognitive strategies require a lot of time and dedication, they are

extremely useful to enrich the learning process each teacher has after the interventions with students. I

deeply believe that being organized really helps to improve teaching practices but only when the

reflection is made consciously'.

Subcategory 3: “Professional development”

The third subcategory demonstrates the importance of being an efficient teacher. In other

words, a teacher who is worried about his students’ learning, and can accomplish institution’s

requirements. For example, if there is a social harmony issue between students, the teacher must act as

a mediator to smooth problems out. In this case, it is pertinent to say that teachers cannot be efficient

by themselves but they need to have help in order to improve and be prepared for any kind of situation

they may have to face.

One way to measure teachers' proficiency is by asking students how they feel in class and what

it is the issue that they would like to change. This can be evidenced in a survey that is done by the

CCA and in the two applications of a questionnaire for the students where they have to explain their

feelings and perceptions of the classes done by the two pre-service teachers.


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In the following chart, it is possible to evidence the result of the survey.

Table 1: Students' opinions regarding the pre-service teachers' performance

The previous table is measured from 0 to 5.0, where 5.0 is equivalent to an excellent, 4.6 to a

very good, 4,0 to a good, 3,7 to a needs improvement and 2,9 to a deficient.

On the one hand in this survey, students manifested that the two pre-teachers had to work on

the use of learning strategies, and should bring more material (different than the one from the book) to

teach. On the other hand, students’ perception about the use of English and the attitude towards the

class was positive due to these were the highest scores. The CCA averages the score of 12 questions to

give a grade to the teacher. This grade was 4,4 that in the scale is equivalent to a very good (VG)

Furthermore, the teachers applied a questionnaire twice to deepen students' opinions regarding their

feelings, attitudes and perceptions about the class. From the comparison of those two applications,

teachers created some memos to evidence if they took into account students’ advice to improve their

classes. The first memo showed how teachers changed their activities in class in order to make it more

dynamic because some students ask for it, as it is shown in the following chart.

3,6

3,8

4

4,2

4,4

4,6

4,8

5

Use of English Actitud towards theclass

Additional materials Use of learningstrategies


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Table 2: Activities that students’ like to do in class.

In this question, the answers were set in a large range of possibilities. In the first application

one student said he liked reading activities and another said he liked the use of technology. Also, two

students liked listening activities, while three students liked group activities and another three liked

interactive activities. Finally, four students preferred games.

During the second application the answers were: one student liked interactive activities, another

student liked listening activities and another one grammar activities. Two students liked participation

activities. Finally, the majority of students liked games.

Here is evident that pre-service teachers took advantage from games to engage students more in

their own learning process.

Another memo that can serve as an example of professional development is number 5, where

teachers had to structure the classes appropriately designed, in order to make students feel well. In the

first classes, teachers used a too high English level for students' understanding, but after collecting the

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Leer Grupales Intectivas Tecnología Escucha Juegos Gramática Participar

Fist application Second application


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information from the questionnaire, they lowed their register to make more understandable their

classes. Below it is possible to see students’ answers in the chart.

Table 3 Students' feelings towards the class.

In this chart, it is shown how students were feeling towards the class, they were not bad but it

could have been better, in here some of the students’ comments in the first application were: “No

entiendo cuando las profesoras hablan en inglés” or “Me aburro en ocasiones”. While in the second

application were: “Me gusta la estructura de la clase” or “Siento que aprendí en clase”. The previous

information means that students' perceptions improved along the process. This, due to the efforts of the

pre-service teachers to work on their weaknesses, in order to help students learning.

The three principal aspects that this study used were reflective teaching, metacognitive

strategies and professional development. The way they were articulated during this process is going to

be explained below.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Muy bien Bien Mal Aburrido No entiende

Question #5

First application Second application


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To begin with it, metacognitive strategies are the strategies, in which people can be more aware of their

knowledge and learning process. Making this last one faster, easier and more efficient (Oxford, 1990).

Thereby, the pre-service teachers created a form called “metacognitive questionnaire” where

they joined these two concepts to keep track of their performance in and outside the classroom. By

doing this, they fulfilled the first specific objective: “Elaborate and use a form based on metacognitive

strategies to foster professional development for pre-service teachers majoring in languages”

In this form, classes were described under the compass of the three stages of metacognitive

strategies (planning, evaluating and monitoring). Besides, by doing an exhaustive process of reflection

class-by-class, pre-service teachers classified important areas to work on, in order not to only

accomplish the institution class structure but to improve their students’ learning. In this way, they

reached the second specific objective: “Characterize the class-to-class process based on the phases of

metacognitive strategies (planning, monitoring and evaluating).”


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7. Conclusions

To finish this investigation, some conclusions are going to be drawn according to the

exhaustive analysis of the gathered data. First, it is valuable to point out that teachers' reflection is not

enough to make a change in their performance, thus it should be the base for setting suitable action

plans. Teachers need to take concrete actions, with the purpose of making their classes more efficient

to seek for student's learning.

Second, it is important to highlight that metacognitive strategies can also be used by teachers,

in order to enhance their teaching performance. Sometimes, teachers take for granted their knowledge

and classroom practices, and they forget that a teacher’s learning never stops. For this reason, they

need to be constantly looking for different and new ways to growth professionally. Hence,

metacognitive strategies are a mean for teachers to be more aware of their learning and teaching

process.

Furthermore, in contrast to the believe that reflection is just fleeting thoughts about a certain

class, it actually means a systematic and organized process (Farrell, 2013). In this way, metacognitive

strategies are useful in order to structure and systematize the reflective process, through the application

of the phases proposed by O'Malley & Chamot (1990) planning, monitoring and evaluating.

Besides, it is important that teachers take into account students’ perceptions, this aspect should

not be underestimated in viewing of the fact that teachers’ perceptions may be vitiated on the previous

knowledge of a specific situation or in a denial face of their mistakes. In this case, it is fundamental to

compare both perceptions (teachers' and students') and draw conclusions from them.

In this way, the main purpose of this research was to use the metacognitive strategies and

reflection in order to make better teachers, which means people who are concerned about their


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students’ learning as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2009) claimed.

The evidence has shown how taking into account all the topics above (metacognitive strategies and

reflective teaching) along with one's reflection, peers and supervisors’ recommendations, can enhance

professional development, when it is carried out thought a systematic process.


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